As domestic air travelers trending upwards after the COVID pandemic, the Indian Air Force ( IAF) has decided to open up 39 military airports and nine advance landing grounds for civil usage.  The move will help to enhance the connectivity to far-flung areas considered as remote for civilian usage but also help to promote tourism.  

 “Towards the common good envisaged by enhanced regional connectivity, the #IAF has earmarked 39 military airfields and 9 Advance Ldg Grounds for use by civil aircraft. This Joint User Airfield scheme now gives access to areas that were earlier considered remote,” said IAF in a tweet on Tuesday.

According to officials, the AAI will utilise these IAF airfields to operate civil flights under the RCS UDAN scheme. The MoD is handing over approximately 40 acres of land for development of civil terminals and necessary airfield infrastructure for commencing RCS flights, said the MoD. As many as 23 airports regularly used by civil airlines, are IAF or Navy bases.

Landing in Pune, Goa, Srinagar or Chandigarh, even frequent fliers seldom realise they are at a military base, even if they notice IAF fighters parked at a distance.

 Their plane parks in what is called a “civil enclave”, where passenger facilities like check-in counters and baggage collection are located.

Earlier in June last year, the IAF announced that seven more military airports would increase their contribution to civil aviation by giving working assistance and land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Accordingly, the IAF provided permission and handed over the defense land operated by the Ministry of Defence to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at seven locations in Bagdogra, Darbhanga, Adampur, Utarlai, Sarsawa, Kanpur, and Gorakhpur.

With international air travel to and from India on a path of swift recovery, Indian carriers are cashing in, expanding their collective market share — by passengers — to a seven-year high, shows an analysis of data for the December quarter (October-December 2022), released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The cumulative market share of Indian carriers by passengers carried on international flights was 43.5 per cent in October-December 2022 up from 39.2 per cent in the corresponding period of 2019, the last full quarter of regular operations before Covid froze the aviation industry.